The Internet continues to make available ever-increasing amounts of information which can be stored in databases and accessed therefrom. With the proliferation of portable terminals and wireless devices (e.g., smartphones, cellular telephones, personal data assistants (PDAs), and other similar communication devices), users are becoming more mobile, and hence, more reliant upon information accessible via the Internet.
In addition to using mobile terminals for standard voice communications and Internet access, more and more users are ‘text messaging’ to reach out and keep in touch with friends and family. Text messaging, also known as ‘texting’ is a term used for sending short text messages, usually from one mobile terminal to another. One popular communications protocol used for texting is SMS (Short Message Service). Today, SMS text messaging is probably the most widely used communication protocol.
Although SMS was originally designed for GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) standard for mobile phones, SMS is now available with non-GSM systems such as 3G (3rd Generation) networks. Similar to SMS, MMS or Multimedia Messaging Service is a standard for telephony messaging systems capable of transmission of multi-media content. More particularly, while SMS is used for text messaging, MMS is a cellular telephone standard for sending messages that include multimedia objects such as images, audio, video and rich text.
As technology advances, SMS and MMS messaging are available on most mobile phones and networks. However, devices have not integrated functionalities so as to take advantage of today's powerful mobile devices. For example, phones that have access to the Internet do not leverage this vast source of information. In other words, devices have not been designed to integrate content from the Internet into SMS and MMS messages.